Ray Lewis wants a storybook ending in Sunday's Super Bowl. Win the big game, two-step one last glorious dance and saunter slowly into the sunset — or, as Saturday Night Live suggested, ascend into heaven from the 50-yard line.

It's the American dream, dressed up in shiny helmet and shoulder pads: Make your last act a dramatic victory, preferably in the final, frantic moments, and exit stage right from the game's grandest stage.

Lewis, 37, emerged over 17 seasons as one of the NFL's all-time great linebackers. If his Baltimore Ravens win, he'd muscle his way into an exclusive club of sports heroes who memorably won championships in their last go-rounds. They include the likes of Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug.

"It's everybody's dream," Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin says, "to ride off on a white horse after winning" the Big One. The very notion of it promises a gauzy blend of slow-mo endings from feel-good sports movies and the happily ever after of fairy tales.

"What makes the narrative trajectory of going out a champion so appealing is it gives the impression of going out on your own terms," says Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

"Not because you were too old, not because your skills were beginning to wane, not because you didn't still have game. You stopped because you decided to, leaving behind the implied promise of other great chapters that could have been."

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Should the San Francisco 49ers win, maybe wide receiver Randy Moss, two weeks shy of 36, could join the club. So much hype has surrounded Lewis' curtain call that some 49ers want equal time for Moss, though he waves that off.

"That's not me," Moss says. "I'm not a celebrator. I love to do my work and go home." Such modesty doesn't gibe with his valedictory claim that he's history's greatest wide receiver.

"If this is his last season," 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis says, "I want to make sure he goes out with a bang."

The trouble is Moss hasn't said if this really is his last rodeo. He told news reporters this week he'd like to come back for a 15th season, whereas Lewis announced to great fanfare before the playoffs that this would be his parting shot.

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Some sports figures, like Lewis, tell the world they're going. "I believe that you should give everybody a fair chance to say their goodbyes," Lewis says.

Others, like Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman, tell no one. He announced his retirement on the ice after Detroit won the 2002 Stanley Cup, Bowman's ninth as a coach.

"I had decided in February, (but) I thought if I told anyone, it would get out. And I didn't want any ceremonies," he said.

He considered retiring a couple of years earlier, but the Red Wings sputtered to the finish that season. "When you lose, you think, 'I'd like to try it again,'" Bowman says.

LAST-CHANCE WINNERS

There is a special category of going out a winner reserved for those who'd never won before their last chance — and that makes Al McGuire's swan song one of the sweetest in sports history.

McGuire famously wept on the Marquette bench as the final seconds of the 1977 men's basketball national championship game counted down the final seconds of his coaching career and an upset against Dean Smith's North Carolina Tar Heels.

No one was more surprised than McGuire himself. "I've always been the bridesmaid," he said then. "I never thought I'd really win."

Ray Bourque won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 after 21 seasons and no happy endings. Boston Bruins fans celebrated his Cup as if it were their own.

"I couldn't breathe," Bourque said at the time. "I was trying to hold off the tears." It was the one thing he failed at that night.

More often, superstars, like their journeymen counterparts, end their careers with a loss. Lisa Leslie won two WNBA titles, three WNBA MVPs and four Olympic gold medals, but she ended her Los Angeles Sparks career in the 2009 WNBA conference finals. Don Shula won the most games in NFL history, but his coaching career ended with a desultory loss to the Bills in Buffalo in a 1995 playoff game that his Miami Dolphins trailed 27-0 entering the fourth quarter.

Syracuse's Thompson figures all that's OK, since we remember the biggest stars more for the entirety of their careers than their last stands. Winning in the final frame is more grace note than legacy builder.

"It fits a traditional storytelling pattern of a happy ending," Thompson says, "but we continue to have a sense of the greatness of Wilt Chamberlain and Arnold Palmer and Mickey Mantle" even if they didn't bow out on high notes.

Willie Mays had a chance to go out a winner, but the New York Mets lost the 1973 World Series to the Oakland Athletics in seven games. Mays lost a fly ball in the sun during one game and stumbled ingloriously, wistful counterpoint to the fly ball he chased down for the New York Giants in their 1954 Series sweep of the heavily favored Cleveland Indians with a legendary over-the-shoulder catch.

ONE BOUT TOO MANY

Michael Jordan retired as an NBA champion — twice. The first came months after the 1993 Finals, when he left to try his hand at baseball. The second came months after the 1998 Finals, where he hit a silky jumper with 5.2 seconds left to beat the Utah Jazz and give the Chicago Bulls their sixth NBA title.

That was to be our last image of him — and then he decided to mount yet another comeback, this time in Washington, where his Wizards finished 37-45 in consecutive seasons.

"That makes perfect emotional sense to me," Thompson says. "If you had a skill set like Michael Jordan, could you stay retired?"

Rocky Marciano managed it. He bowed out as heavyweight boxing champ in 1956 with a career record of 49-0. Marciano considered a bout against Ingemar Johansson in 1959, even training for a month, but ultimately thought better of it.

A more familiar tale is a boxer who always seems to come back for one bout, or several, too many. Muhammad Ali is Exhibit A.

He retired as champ in 1979 only to return in 1980, when Larry Holmes knocked him out in a beat-down. In 1981, plodding and slow and a month shy of 40, Ali lost his last fight by decision to less-than-immortal Trevor Berbick.

"I think I'm too old," Ali said after. "I was slow. I was weak, nothing but Father Time."

Only Marciano, and Father Time, win them all.

REALIZATION THAT ITS OVER

Jerome "The Bus" Bettis stood on the victory stand in 2006, the Lombardi Trophy held high, as he offered a formal retirement speech. "I'm a champion," he said, "and I think The Bus' last stop is here in Detroit."

His last days as a Pittsburgh Steelers running back were a matter of rampant speculation before Super Bowl XL, but only he knew for sure.

"It was a different vibe for me," Bettis says. "The way I approached the week, the actual game itself, I did everything in slow motion because I so wanted to soak it all in and experience everything for the last time. I wanted to take mental snapshots of everything."

Lewis, by contrast, says he is approaching this game the same as he always does.

Bettis was beloved. Lewis is a polarizing figure, beloved in Baltimore but scorned by many fans elsewhere. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the wake of a double murder at an Atlanta nightclub after a Super Bowl party in 2000 — and won Super Bowl MVP with the Ravens a year later.

This week, Lewis' last hurrah is a focal point with its potent mix of redemption, retirement and deer antlers. (He denied a Sports Illustrated report linking him to antler velvet extract containing a banned substance.)

Tony La Russa, who called it a career after the his St. Louis Cardinals won a miracle World Series in 2011, thinks there's way too much emphasis on Lewis.

"I can't disagree with that more, putting one person anywhere near the top as far as story line," La Russa says. "I really think it's a mistake to focus on one individual. It's about team vs. team and all of the players who have a stake in it."

La Russa told Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak privately in August 2011 that he would retire at the end of the season.

"It was one of those deals that it didn't look like it was going to end well," he says. "I was really dreading that feeling. Then, we got into contention, and we started competing. Then, when we got into the playoffs, I'm thinking, 'Man, this is a gift.'"

The Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers in seven games, twice coming down to their final strike in a Game 6 for the ages.

"There were a couple of times we faced elimination and, hell, I wondered if this is it," La Russa says. "But it was never a dominant thought. Things just fell in place, and I was very fortunate."

Contributing: Kevin Allen in Detroit, Bob Nightengale in St. Louis and Robert Klemko and Kevin Manahan in New Orleans.

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I: In the first Super Bowl at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Packers asserted the NFL's supremacy over the AFL by trouncing the Chiefs 35-10. As part of the historic game, Green Bay's Max McGee had seven catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns, including this juggling act. Football would never be the same.
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II: In his final game as head coach, Vince Lombardi's Packers cruised to a 33-14 win over the Raiders to win the Super Bowl. It was only fitting that Lombardi was carried off the field, partly by Jerry Kramer, in one of the most memorable images in Super Bowl history.
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III: Joe Namath guaranteed the Jets would beat the Colts in the Super Bowl, and New York delivered with a 16-7 win. What else could "Broadway Joe", who was named MVP of the game, be talking to reporters about here moments after the game?
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IV: The Jets' Super Bowl III victory in 1969 was considered a fluke in some quarters. The Chiefs forever struck a figurative and literal blow for the AFL one year later, finalizing the disbanding league's record in Super Bowls to 2-2, by thoroughly dominating the heavily favored Vikings 23-7. NFL Films blazed a new trail, mic'ing up Kansas City coach Hank Stram, who gleefully touts his call of "65 Toss Power Trap", which produced a 5-yard TD run by halfback Mike Garrett.
AP

V: Marred by 11 turnovers, Super Bowl V is perhaps the sloppiest installment in the game's history. But at least it finally infused an element of drama. Rookie Jim O'Brien's 32-yard field goal with 5 seconds to go gave the Colts a 16-13 victory over the Cowboys. It might not have come to that if O'Brien had not had an extra-point attempt blocked earlier in the game.
AP

VII: The Dolphins were perfect at 17-0, but in their 14-7 win over the Redskins, kicker Garo Yepremian provided one of the biggest gaffes in Super Bowl history. His kick was blocked, he recovered, then tried to pass in haste, only it was deflected into the hands of Mike Bass (41), who took it to the end zone for Washington's only touchdown of the game.
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X: Lynn Swann caught just four passes, but he made them count while terrorizing Cowboys cornerback Mark Washington. Swann put his ballet skills to use with a 32-yard grab in the first quarter that set up a Steelers touchdown. His most memorable catch is this diving/juggling 53-yarder before halftime, though it didn't lead to any points. Finally, Swann's 64-yard TD hookup with Terry Bradshaw in the fourth quarter staked Pittsburgh to an insurmountable lead.
AP

XI: The icing on the cake of the Raiders' 32-14 win over the Vikings was Willie Brown's fourth-quarter interception returned 75 yards for a touchdown. It was game over after that -- if it wasn't already before.
Malcolm Emmons, USA TODAY Sports

XI: No defensive back was more feared more than the Raiders' Jack Tatum during the 1976 season, and he showed why with this vicious hit that knocked off Vikings receiver Sammy White's helmet during Oakland's 32-14 win.
Richard Drew, AP

XII: This Super Bowl was a blowout pretty much from the opening whistle. But Cowboys wideout Butch Johnson stamped his spot in NFL lore by splitting two Broncos defensive backs in the third quarter by laying out for a 45-yard Roger Staubach TD pass that just managed to stick on Johnson's fingertips as he rolled into the end zone. That gave the Cowboys a 20-3 lead in the third quarter. Game, set and match.
AP

XIII: Jackie Smith is often blamed for losing the Super Bowl for the Cowboys. Playing in his final game, the Hall of Fame tight end, who was wide open in the end zone, dropped what would have been an easy 10-yard TD pass. Yet the play occurred late in the third quarter, and the Cowboys wound up kicking a field goal to cut the Steelers' lead to 21-17. Pittsburgh went up 35-17 in the final period and weathered a late Dallas rally to hold on for a 35-31 victory. But laying all the blame at Smith's feet (or hands) seems rather unfair.
AP

XIV: The Steelers were already the first team to win three Super Bowls and seemed a shoo-in to make it four against the Los Angeles Rams, whose 9-7 regular-season record is still tied for worst among Super Bowl participants. But the plucky Rams were clinging to a 19-17 lead in the fourth quarter until Terry Bradshaw launched a bomb to John Stallworth that went 73 yards for the game-clinching TD. Rams, vanquished. Steel Curtain, vindicated.
AP

XVI: The Bengals, down 20-7, threatened to make a game out of this Super Bowl when they had first-and-goal at the 3-yard line. The 49ers didn't allow a score after stopping two runs and a pass attempt, setting up fourth-and-inches. And on the final play, San Francisco's defense held Pete Johnson to no gain, completing the greatest goal-line stand in Super Bowl history, which was key to the Niners' 26-21 victory.
Richard Mackson, USA TODAY Sports

XVII: The Redskins trailed 17-13 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game at the Dolphins' 43-yard line when coach Joe Gibbs decided to go for it on fourth-and-1. The handoff is to John Riggins, who runs left and breaks the tackle of Don McNeal, on his way to scoring the go-ahead touchdown. Riggins finishes with 166 yards and is named MVP as Washington wins 27-17.
AP

XVIII: Marcus Allen produced one of the most dazzling plays in Super Bowl history on the final play of the third quarter. A play intended to run to the left off tackle turned into Allen, noticing a bunch of defenders on that side, reversing all the way back to the middle and sprinting up the gut for a 74-yard touchdown. It was the dagger in the Raiders' 38-9 win over the Redskins.
AP

XIX: It was billed as a battle of top quarterbacks, Joe Montana vs. Dan Marino, who entered the game after a record-setting regular season. But this Super Bowl was no match as Montana thoroughly outplayed Marino, going 24 of 35 for 331 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for 59 yards and a score, in leading the 49ers to a 38-16 win over the Dolphins.
AP

XX: The third quarter of this Super Bowl is when the Bears really pulled away from the Patriots. As part of Chicago's 21-point third quarter, coach Mike Ditka lined up defensive lineman William "Refrigerator" Perry as a running back, and Perry delivered a 1-yard touchdown to give the Bears a 44-3 lead. They went on to win 46-10, cementing themselves as one of the greatest teams in NFL history.
Amy Sancetta, AP

XXI: The Giants dominated the Broncos 39-20 to win the Super Bowl, leading to this moment: the first Gatorade bath in Super Bowl history, with Harry Carson, disguised as a security guard in a yellow jacket, dousing coach Bill Parcells on the sideline.
Douglas C. Pizack, AP

XXII: Doug Williams was named MVP after going 18 of 29 for 340 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in the Redskins' 42-10 win over the Broncos, on his way to becoming the first African-American quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
Elise Amendola, AP

XXIII: To finish off what could be the greatest drive in Super Bowl history, Joe Montana connected with John Taylor for the game-winning 10-yard touchdown with 34 seconds remaining to give the 49ers a 20-16 win over the Bengals. The play, a the culmination of an 11-play, 92-yard drive that began with 3 minutes and 10 seconds, gave San Francisco its third championship of the decade, cementing the franchise as the team of 1980s.
Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports

XXIV: As part of the most lopsided win in Super Bowl history, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice put on a show for the ages. Montana was 22 of 29 for 297 yards and a then-record five touchdowns, and Rice had seven catches for 148 yards and a record three touchdown catches in the 49ers' 55-10 victory over the Broncos, giving San Francisco its fourth championship of the 1980s.
Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports

XXVII: The Cowboys' 52-17 win over the Bills was laughable, but nothing about the game was as funny as Leon Lett's showboating just before the goal line on a fumble return and Don Beebe slapping the ball out of his hands.
Chris O'Meara, AP

XXIX: Steve Young needed to get the monkey off his back, and he did in the biggest way, going 24 of 36 for 325 yards and six touchdowns, breaking Joe Montana's record, in the 49ers' 49-26 thrashing of the Chargers.
George Rose, Getty Images

XXX: With the Cowboys clinging to a 20-17 lead in the fourth quarter, Super Bowl MVP Larry Brown came up with the second interception of the game, which was critical to Dallas holding on for a 27-17 win over the Steelers. Brown was the first cornerback to ever be named the game's MVP.
Susan Ragan, AP

XXXI: In the third quarter, the Patriots cut the lead to 27-21, but on the ensuing kickoff Packers return man Desmond Howard took the ensuing kickoff a Super Bowl record 99 yards for a touchdown to help Green Bay hold on for the 35-21 win. As a result of a big day of returns, Howard became the first special teams player ever to be named Super Bowl MVP.
Anne Ryan, USA TODAY Sports

XXXII: 0-for-3 in his previous appearances, how bad did John Elway want to win this Super Bowl? On third-and-6 from the 12-yard line of a tie game, Elway couldn't find an open receiver and scrambled for the first down, launching himself for the first down and helicoptering after taking a shot in mid-air. Terrell Davis scored the go-ahead touchdown two plays later, and the Broncos beat the Packers 31-24.
Eric Parsons, USA TODAY Sports

XXXIV: On the game's final drive, with the Titans trailing the Rams 23-16, Tennessee drove all the way to the 10-yard line with 6 seconds remaining. And on the final play, Steve McNair threw a pass short of the end zone to Kevin Dyson, who was tackled by Mike Jones 1 yard short of the goal line. Easily the most dramatic, heart-breaking ending in Super Bowl history.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports

XXXVI: The Patriots entered the Super Bowl as double-digit underdogs to the Rams. But with the game tied with under 2 minutes remaining and no timeouts, Tom Brady drove New England into field goal range, and Adam Vinatieri nailed the game winner from 48 yards for a 20-17 win.
Jim Hudelson, USA TODAY Sports

XXXVIII: With 4 seconds remaining, Adam Vinatieri hit a game-winning 41-yard field goal as the Patriots defeated the Panthers 32-29 in the Super Bowl. It's the second time in three years New England wins the Super Bowl thanks to a Vinatieri field goal.
Brett Coomer, AP

XXXIX: Fans can say what they will about Terrell Owens' diva ways, but his nine-catch, 122-yard performance, just seven weeks after having two screws and a metal plate inserted to repair a broken ankle, is one of the gutsiest performances in Super Bowl history. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for the Eagles to defeat the Patriots.
Amy Sancetta, AP

XL: The Seahawks had just returned an interception 76 yards for a touchdown to pull within 14-10 in the fourth quarter. But the Steelers responded with some trickery on their ensuing drive as wide receiver Antwaan Randle El connected with Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward for a 43-yard touchdown to extend Pittsburgh's lead to the eventual 21-10 final score.
Julian H. Gonzalez, USA TODAY Sports

XLI: The game started with a bang as the Bears' Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, the first time that has happened in Super Bowl history.
Jack Gruber, USA TODAY Sports

XLII: During the Giants' game-winning drive against the Patriots, perhaps the most memorable play in Super Bowl history occurred. Eli Manning almost got sacked before escaping and heaving a pass over the middle where David Tyree, with James Harrison latched to him, made an improbable catch with the assist of his helmet for a 38-yard gain. New York goes on to score the winning touchdown to defeat New England 17-14 and end the Patriots' bid for perfection.
Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports

XLIII: James Harrison created a giant momentum swing and set a Super Bowl record in one play when he intercepted Kurt Warner's pass and returned it 100 yards for touchdown before halftime. This could be the most exciting play in Super Bowl history.
Al Bello, Getty Images

XLIII: In one of the most clutch touchdowns in Super Bowl history, Ben Roethlisberger found Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone for the game-winning 6-yard catch with 35 seconds remaining to give the Steelers a 27-23 win over the Cardinals. The catch was the final, and biggest, of the four for 73 yards on the drive the eventual Super Bowl MVP had.
Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports

XLIV: Down 10-6 at halftime, Saints coach Sean Peyton decided to open up the second half of Super Bowl XLIV with a gutsy call: onside kick. It stunned everybody, and it worked, altering the course of the game.
H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY Sports

XLIV: The play that sealed the first Super Bowl championship in Saints' history. New Orleans led 24-17 with just over 3 minutes remaining and the Colts in Saints' territory. Peyton Manning threw a pass intended for Reggie Wayne, but Tracy Porter jumped the route and returned his interception 74 yards to seal the Saints' 31-17 victory.
H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY Sports

XLV: The Steelers had all the momentum at the start of the fourth quarter with the ball in Packers' territory. And that's when the game-changing moment happened as Clay Matthews forced Rashard Mendenhall to fumble the ball, which was recovered by Green Bay. Without this play, Super Bowl XLV might've gone a different way.
Matthew Emmons, USA TODAY Sports

XLVI: Was Tom Brady's throw perfect? Maybe not, but Wes Welker makes this catch nine times out of 10. Instead, with the Patriots at the Giants' 44-yard line and nursing a 17-15 lead with just over 4 minutes remaining, Welker couldn't hang on for what would've been a big gain for a first down that might've served as the dagger. Instead, the Giants held on the next third-and-11, got the ball back and marched for the win.
Elise Amendola, AP

XLVI: Down 17-15 in the final minute, and with the Patriots having only one timeout remaining, the Giants had marched 82 yards to set up a chip-shot winning field goal attempt. Then on second-and-goal from the 6-yard line, New England's defense stood up, allowing Ahmad Bradshaw to score. He thought about holding up (the smart move) but couldn't before awkwardly squatting into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Fortunately for Bradshaw, Tom Brady couldn't mount a miracle on the final drive, and the Giants won 21-17.
Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports